Keefe

The path to an NHL coaching job often goes through the American Hockey League.
Twenty-three of 31 NHL coaches at the start of the season had AHL coaching experience. Among that group are Bruce Boudreau of the Minnesota Wild, the Nashville Predators' Peter Laviolette, Todd McLellan of the Edmonton Oilers, the Chicago Blackhawks' Joel Quenneville, the Pittsburgh Penguins' Mike Sullivan, John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Washington Capitals' Barry Trotz.

Laviolette, Trotz, Jeff Blashill of the Detroit Red Wings, Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators, the Boston Bruins' Bruce Cassidy, Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the New Jersey Devils' John Hynes, and the Montreal Canadiens' Claude Julien won the Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award as the outstanding AHL coach in a season.
Blashill, Boudreau, Cooper, Laviolette, McLellan, Tortorella, Trotz, Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings' John Stevens won the Calder Cup as coaches before moving to the NHL.
In an era where player development is paramount for sustained NHL success, AHL coaches are counted on to produce a steady stream of talent ready to go for the NHL roster.
In a two-part feature that will continue next week, here is a look at two AHL Eastern Conference coaches that could run an NHL bench someday and challenges that they confront regularly:

Sheldon Keefe, Toronto (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Keefe is in his third AHL season and continues to blend two difficult and sometimes competing goals: Develop prospects and establish a winning AHL culture.
A franchise-record 13-game point streak (12-0-1), the third-longest in the AHL this season, has helped Toronto to pull away from the rest of the Eastern Conference. At 34-11-1 and a .750 points percentage, Keefe has his team playing at the same rate as his 2015-16 team that put together the third-best regular season in AHL history.
Toronto is attempting to become the first Maple Leafs affiliate to win the Calder Cup since 1982 (New Brunswick, in a dual affiliation with the Blackhawks).
However, the goal in Toronto is not to win a Calder Cup by loading up on AHL veterans. Young players take major roles under Keefe as part of their AHL apprenticeship.
Creating that winning culture has meshed with a tailored approach to player development. Keefe and his coaching staff have sent forwards Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Josh Leivo and William Nylander, and defensemen Connor Carrick and Travis Dermott to the Maple Leafs, and there could be several more intriguing prospects eventually.
"I think the big thing that we believe is that development is very unique [to the player]," Keefe said. "The biggest thing that I would say is that development is individual. We've got to look at it from that perspective and cater a plan for [that player] within a team atmosphere, a team environment."
One player may need extra edge work for his skating. Another may need more video work. A young player may need to add strength. Whatever a player needs, it is not done through a one-size-fits-all approach.
"We're trying to develop a team culture and win games, but we also break it down to the individual," Keefe said.

Jay Leach, Providence (Boston Bruins)

A respected and rugged defenseman who spent much of his 12-season career on the NHL-AHL bubble, Leach is familiar with the challenges that AHL players face.
Leach, 38, is in his first season as an AHL coach after spending two seasons in the league as an assistant coach. He started his coaching career in 2014 as an assistant coach with Mannheim in the top pro league in Germany and won a championship before returning to North America.
In 2015-16 with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Penguins' AHL affiliate, he had an opportunity to work for Sullivan. When Sullivan was elevated to the Penguins on Dec. 12, 2015, Leach continued as an assistant under Clark Donatelli. He moved to Providence last season as an assistant coach.
A tight-knit roster has been a hallmark of Providence teams in recent seasons, and Leach has continued that approach this season. Providence is 26-16-4 and has continued with the success it had from last season's trip to the Eastern Conference Final.
The Boston-Providence affiliation dates to 1992 and is the longest in the AHL. Providence has been a hothouse for developing future NHL coaches; Cassidy, Laviolette, Sullivan, and former New York Islanders coach Scott Gordon are former Providence coaches that went on to NHL coaching jobs.
Leach arrived at the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic in Utica, New York last week looking to pick the minds of some of his peers.
"Coaching is not an exact science," he said. "I'm not going to pretend to think I know half of what I need to know. If you gather [top players and coaches], you're going to have some ideas in there that are worthwhile to listen to and learn from."
"I think you can learn. A lot."
He took that knowledge back to Providence for a team facing a grueling push for its sixth consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs.
"We will have tough games coming up," Leach said. "Our kids are going to go through the next two months, and it's going to be a little bit of a push for them."
"Taking it head-on will be great for their development."